Admin Alert: A Checklist For Moving Power i Partitions To A Different Location

With corporate buy-outs, company spin-offs, and moving Power i servers to a centralized data center or a managed server provider, many shops are finding that they need to move their Power i partitions to a different network or a cloud provider. To that end, here’s a checklist I put together to help ensure that your Power i partitions can function without issue in a new environment.

Why We Move

There are many reasons you might need a playbook for moving a Power i partition from one location and network to another. Some of the more common situations include:

• Company sale or spin-off where your machine or partitions moves to a new location.
• Company requiring all physical machines to be hosted in a centralized data center or at a managed services provider.
• Company consolidating all Power i partitions on another machine in a different location.
• Company moving your Power i servers to the cloud where they no longer reside on your network.

Whatever the reason for moving, you need to focus on the following three areas.

1. Physical moves–Moving a Power i machine to a different location.
2. Internal changes–Changes inside the IBM i operating system that allow a partition to function in a different environment.
3. External changes–Changes to external servers, networks, and other equipment that allow them to interact with an IBM i partition that has moved.

Here’s what important to examine in each area. At the end of this article, I also provide also a checklist that you can use for your own moves.

Physical Moves

This area covers situations where you are physically moving an existing machine to another facility (ignore this section if you are moving an IBM i partition or partitions to another machine). Things you’ll want to consider for a physical move include:

Contract with a mover to securely move the box–My prejudice here is to contract with IBM for a physical move. The reason is that you’ll have fewer problems with IBM hardware maintenance if something happens to the machine. If another vendor moves your box and it gets damaged in transit, you will probably need to contact IBM to ensure your hardware maintenance is still in force.

Provide for any telecom or peripheral needs you’ll need at your new location–Inventory the off-system connections you’ll need to physically attach your system or partition to the Internet or to peripherals outside your machine, including:

• Backup drives
• Network equipment for Ethernet connections
• Telecom connections–Depending on the site location and your vendors, there can be significant lead time in ordering and installing new telecomm lines. So you may need to order any new lines several months in advance. Make sure the new lines have sufficient speed to handle all your connections and that they will be installed on site in time for your move
• Plain old telephone service (POTS) lines–Arrange for any POTS lines you may need for non-Internet access

Make sure you have all the correct Ethernet cables, fiber optic cables for backup devices, and other cables for the new location–Inventory and provide any cables your system uses to connect to the telecom lines and peripherals you identified in the last step. And make sure the cables are the right length for the new location so you don’t have to scramble for longer cables in case the backup drive turns out to be 10 feet away from your system instead of 3 feet. You don’t want to delay bringing up the system just because you don’t have the right cables. Map out the ports that every cable is connected to on your Power i box so you can plug them back into the right spot later.

Plan for your power requirements–Make sure you have the proper electrical circuits and power cables, including the correct plug types for your cables. If you’re going to a managed service provider, be careful not to order more electrical capacity than you need as the provider will charge you more for additional voltage above your needs. Spec out however much power you need, but avoid going over that specification as it will cost you in a hosted environment. This may also be a lead-time issue so make sure you plan and order electrical circuits well in advance.

Plan for external security for your cabinets–If you’re moving the machine to a managed service provider that services other clients, you may need to order and install locking doors and side panels on your cabinets. Find out what security requirements are necessary for the location you’re moving to and prep your box accordingly.

Determine how you’ll provide overhead cable access to your cabinets, if necessary–Many data centers provide communication line access from rails on the ceiling, rather than running the communication cables up the through the floor, as you may be doing in your current data center. If you’re moving to a managed services provider, check to see whether you’ll need to run cables through the top of your cabinet and provide access from above (which may be as simple as punching a hole in the top of your cabinet), if necessary.

Internal Changes To Your IBM i Partitions

This area covers IBM i configurations that must be changed to run in a new location. Because these items enable your partitions to function in a new subnet, they will need to be made after the machine is moved.

• New IP addresses for your Power i partitions to function in a different subnet–Make sure these are assigned before you move the machine or partition.
• Change TCP/IP settings on your Power i partitions–This includes host table entries, relational database directory entries, and other TCP/IP settings.
• Change email servers, fax servers, and other local TCP/IP addresses your Power i uses–If your partitions are moving to another location, determine whether they need to change any IP addresses for any companion email servers, fax servers, and other TCP/IP servers that may not be available on the new subnet.
• Provide for any telecom or peripheral needs you’ll need at your new location–Regardless of whether you are physically moving a Power i system to a new location or moving a partition to another system in a different location, make you sure you have all the telecom lines you need to hook your system up to the Internet or to POTS lines. Also make sure you’re able to access any other peripherals you’ll need such as backup servers, at the new location.
• Determine how you’ll backup your moved partitions at the new site–Review and modify your backup strategy for the new location.

External Changes To Servers And Networks That Access Your IBM i Partition

These items refer to changes that must be made to allow companion servers and network equipment to continue to work with your hardware once your machine or partition is moved. Like the internal changes, these changes generally need to be made when bringing up an existing IBM i partition in a new environment and can’t be made before the move. These changes include:

• Change host tables entries on any companion IBM i partitions that communicate with your moved partition.
• Change hard-coded TCP/IP addresses on companion servers that exchange information with your moved partitions.
• Change DNS server entries to point to your new IBM i IP address.
• Determine what to do about companion servers that need to be in the same subnet as your moved partition–Determine what you need to do to keep these services moving when you move your IBM i partition.
• Change network connections (such as switches, firewalls, etc.) on your new subnet that allow your moved IBM i partitions to communicate with external business partners–If your machine is moving to a different location, determine what ports and IP addresses need to be opened on network routers, switches, firewalls, and other networking equipment in order to keep critical business transactions working for FTP, ODBC, and other communication transfers. These configurations will need to be added to the destination network equipment where the system is being moved.
• Change network connections at business partner locations that are allowed access to your IBM i partition through a firewall or DMZ server–Contact any business partners that may have hard-coded IP addresses in their networking equipment that are used to contact and exchange information with your IBM i partition. If you are moving your partition to a new environment with a different IP address, they may need to change their network configurations in order to keep communicating with your system through a firewall or a machine running in the DMZ.
• Determine what to do about load-balancing systems for your IBM i partition–If you’re running dual IBM i Web sites with load-balancing equipment for example, determine how you will continue running load balancing at the new site.

Outside integration changes may be the most critical part of moving IBM i partitions or a Power i system to another network in a different subnet. Your shop may have spent years properly configuring the network to handle your IBM i cross system and business partner needs. When you move your partitions outside of their home networks, these configurations will need to be reconfigured and tested in the new network to maintain critical connections.

Here are all the items I listed above in a checklist format that you can use when planning to move an IBM i partition to a different location.